


Tuning Out The World

by InstructionsNotFound



Series: The Troubling Romance of Leon Kuwata and Sayaka Maizono [3]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:55:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25415785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InstructionsNotFound/pseuds/InstructionsNotFound
Summary: Leon begins to find it hard to feel anything at all.Everything's so goddamn boring.His girlfriend, school, the world.Everything but Hagakure.
Relationships: Hagakure Yasuhiro/Kuwata Leon, Kuwata Leon/Maizono Sayaka
Series: The Troubling Romance of Leon Kuwata and Sayaka Maizono [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1679428
Comments: 21
Kudos: 130





	1. Two Tickets To Paradise, Please

**Author's Note:**

> *cautiously walks in*
> 
> Hi. Saying I don't go here often would be an understatement. 
> 
> I initially had an idea for a Leon x Hagakure fic out of nowhere about a month ago, and was like, pfft. No way thats a thing, and set it aside. But as a writer, curiosity got the best of me, and I did my research. 
> 
> And, let me tell you, I genuinely did not expect to fall in love with it as much as I did. I have complete respect for the pairing now. 
> 
> I am so sorry if I did not give it justice here, especially with the apathetic nature of the story.

Making out was boring as shit. 

At least, that's what Leon decided, as Sayaka's lips were attached to his for the umpteenth time that hour. 

Sure, it was fun, for, like, the first month they'd been together, but Leon couldn't remember the appeal anymore. 

Don't worry, it wasn't  _ completely _ his fault.

In between staring a hole into the empty ceiling, he had the decency of tilting his head every once in a while or moving his hands, as to not  _ totally _ leave all of the work up to her. 

But God, it definitely was not worth skipping biology for. 

And that was saying something, because Leon gave absolutely zero fucks about Darwin or Punnett Squares. 

"Leon," Sayaka croaked, finally pulling away from him. Frankly, he was surprised there wasn't a trail of saliva still linking them together. 

Her voice was whiny, like she was going to nag him about something. 

He hated when she got like that. It hurt his ears. 

Absent-mindedly, his hand wandered up to his lips, feeling to see if they were swollen yet, from the constant deprivation of oxygen. 

The traces of blue and purple on Sayaka's lips were proof enough that hers would be. 

"You zoned out again," She accused. 

It seemed not even she was having fun, anymore. 

He groaned, not wanting to listen to the speech she was about to give. 

In his defense, that wasn't exactly a valid criticism, because he had never been zoned  _ in _ to begin with. 

"I think we should break up," the words escaped his mouth before he even realized he was talking. 

It was then that Sayaka realized her hand was still up Leon's shirt. She withdrew it in an instant, as a hurt confusion spread across her face. 

"E-excuse me?" She stumbled backwards, stunned. 

Eh,  _ fuck it. _

Leon hadn't exactly  _ planned _ to break up with her today, but since the words were already out, he figured that God had given him an opportunity he couldn't pass up. 

No harm no foul. 

"I'm just not feeling it anymore." Leon shrugged. It may have been the lousiest breakup of the century, but he didn't have it in him to care. 

She had to have seen it coming. He was nowhere near the perfect boyfriend. 

"You know what? Fine, Leon. We can be through." Sayaka rolled her eyes, pushing away from him. "But you're an asshole, and you always will be." 

She bolted out of the empty classroom before Leon could get another word out. 

So Leon did what any rational human being would do, and walked back to class, for what was probably the first time all month. 

That's not to say he blissfully continued on with his life as if Sayaka never existed. Her last words hung in his head, but he couldn't figure out how he was supposed to feel about them. So he didn't. 

"Nice of you to finally join us, Leon," The teacher, Idabashi, taunted.

Leon ignored him, and sat down next to Hiro, who was working on a packet. 

Well…  _ "working." _

Instead, it looked like he was just doodling creepy ass triangles all over the edges of the paper. 

"Dude, what brings you here?" Hiro asks, squinting at Leon. "Aren't ya supposed to be making out with Sayaka still?" 

"Unless…" Before Leon got the chance to answer, Hiro's eyes widened, and he jumped up from his seat, his arms poorly mimicking a karate stance he ripped from a movie. 

"Woah, stay back! I know you're a clone." He warns. "If you leave now I won't hurt ya."

Leon rolled his eyes in response. "I'm not a clone, asshat." 

"Then tell me something only the  _ real _ Leon would know," Hiro demands, with narrowed eyes. 

"I just broke up with Sayaka." Leon admitted with a scowl, hoping that would be enough to make Hiro drop his act. He really didn't know if he could handle all that bullshit right now. 

"...Real shit?" Hiro hesitates, lowering his arms. 

"Yup." Leon confirms with a sigh, tapping his fingers on the desk,. "It was sort of an accident, but…"

"Damn. You okay?" He ensures, trying to measure the situation. 

"I haven't been feeling much of anything lately." It took Hagakure falling down into his chair, with his hand on his chin, deep in thought, for Leon to realize he had actually said that out loud. 

And once again, he didn't have the energy to take it back. 

"I think I have an idea," Hiro encourages, with a grin. "Meet me by my car at the end of the day." 

* * *

_ Car _ was a generous word for the piece of shit Hagakure drove around. 

But it moved, which was more than Leon could say for his junky truck. 

They both desperately needed to befriend someone who knew what the fuck they were doing when it came to cars. 

"So, what?" Leon looked out the window, to guess their impending location. "We drivin' to a field to smoke pot and get high off our asses?" 

"Nah, man." Hagakure shook his head, "My family's got  _ bad _ voodoo with smoking."

"Yeah, yeah." Leon murmured, sinking back down into his seat. "But a guy could dream…" 

"We are going to a field, though." 

"To do  _ what _ ?" Leon snorted. The only thing fields had going for them was grass. And a shit ton of bugs. 

"Talk," Hiro shrugged, turning onto a small gravel road, that led to an open field.

"You have got to be kidding me," Leon groaned, not seeing the point. 

"It's a good thinkin' spot," Hagakure defends, turning off the car.

Soon after, Leon found himself laying plop dab in the middle of the grassy field, staring up at the empty sky next to Hagakure, listening to him mumble on and on. 

"There's this thing, that lives in Indonesian jungles. I think they call it the Ahool, or somethin' like that. But anyways," he explains. "It's this giant bat, with the face of a chimpanzee. I'm talking  _ huge _ , with a 12 foot wingspan."

"No way that's real," Leon rolled his eyes, plucking out a piece of grass by his side.

"You don't know that!" Hagakure insists, scratching at his stubble. "It's rumored to mainly eat fish and things like that, but there's been a few reportings of one flying real high up in the sky, before swooping down and snatching a human at the speed of light." 

"Alright, I'll bite." Leon temporarily gave in to the suspension of disbelief. "What about it?"

"I don't know," Hiro admits, not having a point to his story. He was just talking to talk. "I just think about it sometimes."

"Dude, if something like that grabbed you, your spine would crack on impact." Leon teased, watching the singular visible cloud slowly inch to the side.

"You're probably right," He nods, doing the same. 

Leon paused, his mind flashing back to Sayaka's last declaration before she fucked off. Something about it bugged him. But he couldn't be too sure. 

His mind could have just hyper-fixated on it to fill the empty void in his brain where a train of thought should be. 

"Hey, Hiro…"

"Yeah?" 

"Am I an asshole?"

"'Course not," Hagakure quickly answers, turning his head towards Leon. "What's gotcha thinking like that?" 

"Just something Sayaka said earlier." Leon mumbled, still looking up at the sky. He had to admit picturing an obscenely large bat creature coming to terrorize them made cloud-watching a little more exciting. "I know she only said it because she was pissed that I broke up with her, but… I'm not too sure she was wrong."

"Oh yeah?" Hiro asked. 

"Remember what I said earlier? About not feeling anything? My brain's thinking, if nothing matters, then why do I have to listen to Junko complain about some guy glaring at her in the hallway? Or listen to Sayaka's nagging?" Leon began picking at the dirt underneath his fingernails with a belated sigh. "I don't mean to tune them out, it just… happens. And I don't have the energy to fight it." 

There was a beat of silence, before he continued. "Part of me's wondering if I've always been this self-centered, and I'm only realizing it now that it's out of my control…"

"You've never been like that around me," Hiro objects, his eyes still drawn to Leon. 

"Well, yeah…" Leon easily admitted, not giving it much thought. "But that's  _ different _ ."

_ Hagakure _ was different. 

He liked listening to him ramble about nothing. 

"How so?" 

"I-I don't know," Leon blanked, turning to face Hiro. "It just is." 

Neither said anything for a moment, letting a comfortable silence enter the air as the words settled in. 

"So you really broke up with Sayaka?" Hagakure changed the subject. 

"Mhm," Leon nodded, momentarily putting his hand up to his lips, remembering how worried he was about them being sore. 

They were. 

"Damn. You really don't have any weed?" 

"I think I've got some brownies in my car."

Leon didn't move to get them.

He liked laying in the damn ugly field with Hiro too much to ruin it just for a little pot. 

He didn't have to think too hard there. Just exist. 

There was another pause. This time, there was a chorus of crickets that filled in for the lack of words. 

"You're not an asshole, Leon." Hagakure ensured, placing a hand on top of Leon's cheek. "You're just tired." 

Leon didn't expect the sudden touch, but he didn't fight it, either. 

As he laid there, feeling nothing but the warmth of Hiro's hand on his face, Leon had a thought creep into his mind. And once it made its way there, it didn't want to leave. 

So Leon had no choice but to go through with it. 

"Hey, Hiro?" 

"Yeah?"

"How weird would it be if I just, like, kissed you right now?" Leon expected Hiro to scream, or run, or at  _ least _ make fun of him, but…

Hagakure simply stayed put, mumbling, "Not at all."

And so, he did. 

Maybe the whole ordeal was just a desperate attempt from a clueless teenager to feel something again. 

But there was something to be said about the fact that it worked. 

Because, as Leon quickly found out, with his hand in Hiro's hair, and feeling the latter's stubble scrape against his cheeks, making out was  _ not _ boring.

~~ Sayaka was.  ~~


	2. The Wails Of The Disaster Bird

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens after you kiss your best friend on the lips, when neither of you are harboring romantic feelings for one another?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> repeat after me, folks: when you're starved of content, you write your own! 
> 
> this may not be the cleanest chapter ever, but it served its purpose. 
> 
> hope you enjoy :)
> 
> oh, and ibuki's song title is a reference to @4komori's chuckv3cheese au on ig

"Shit," Hagakure pulled away, staring downward at his sandals, as though he were holding a murder weapon between his toes. "I'm not wearing socks." 

"You're a fuckin' idiot." Leon oh so monotonously delivered, flicking Hagakure's shoulder for good measure. "Let's go home."

The air settled around Leon as he blinked once, twice, three times. 

And when he opened them that final time, a myriad of senses overcame him one by one, as if something awakened in him. 

His body was _buzzing_. Like the nonverbal equivalent of an exclamation mark, encapsulated by the overload of senses.

It wasn't the same as emotions, but it was _something,_ goddammit. And after knowing what feeling nothing is like, Leon was willing to take what he could get. 

He was hyper aware of it all. The chill of the wind around his wrists, the throbbing of his already sore lips, the distinct smell of pinecone and weed that Hagakure was always emitting. 

Most importantly came the scratchy feeling on his cheeks, in which Hiro's stubble scraped against them. 

It was a dumb, miniscule detail, but Leon couldn't get it off his mind on the way to Hagakure's sorry excuse for a car. 

_Think, think, think._

Leon tried to avert his thoughts to anything that didn't remind him of the fact that he just kissed his best friend, because he still didn't know why the hell he did that. Or why the hell Hiro let him. Or what the fuck was going through his mind about now. 

But what came out of Leon's mouth was, "You need to shave." 

Leon watched Hagakure's expression to his dumb comment like his life depended on it, searching for any sense of positive or negative energy. 

_Energy?_ What the hell was he talking about. That sounded like some shit Hagakure would say. 

"Aw, come on. You don't like it?" Hagakure proudly rubbed the stubble on his chin, mocking Leon. "I'm telling ya, it's gonna become a great big beard one day. Even Bigfoot'll be jealous." 

Leon felt himself relax upon hearing Hagakure ease back into his bullshit, like everything was normal. 

Which would have been fantastic, if his brain wasn't waging war against him, making him second guess everything. 

Making out wasn't boring. No, that had been the wrong adjective. It was confusing as fuck. 

Why the hell had he kissed Hagakure? And why, in God's name, was Hagakure _not_ acting like the situation was the end of the world? 

Leon stared out the window of the car as Hagakure drove, watching tree after tree pass by. It wasn't as pretty at night. 

"I'm not into dudes, y'know." Leon felt the need to clarify. For his image, maybe. 

Even if it was just the two of them alone in the car. 

"I figured as much," Hagakure laughed, taking a swig of a half-full, week old water bottle he forgot to take out of his car. 

"What, are you?" Leon lowered his eyes, caught off guard by his reaction. 

"Probably not," he shrugged, as if finding that out was his last priority. "I don't know. I've never really thought about it before." 

"Huh," Leon didn't really know how to respond to that. 

There was a pause, before Hagakure spoke again. 

"There's another cool bird I was reading about," he began, as Leon tapped his fingers against the console to the beat of the new song Ibuki was writing. Other than it's god-awful title ( _Did Chuck E. Cheese Just Kiss Me)_ he had to admit it had a pretty sick beat. 

"Is this one real?" Leon teased, causing Hagakure to pout. 

"Bold of you to assume the Ahool isn't," He huffed. 

Rolling his eyes, Leon persisted. "That doesn't answer the question."

"As a matter of fact," Hagakure sat up straight. "The _Potoo_ is very real. In fact, I kinda feel bad for them. Everyone says they're, like, the ugliest birds in the world. And their caw sounds like a wail." 

"Reminds me of you," Leon murmurs. Maybe he really was an asshole if that was his first thought, even if he meant it in a joking manner. 

"Ha-ha, very funny," Hagakure took one hand off the steering wheel to playfully shove Leon. It was more of a surprise that he had had two hands on the wheel in the first place. "Seriously, though. They're out there. Look 'em up." 

Leon simply smiled, content with their bickering, and went back to gazing out the window at the ugly scenery. He felt strange, sitting there. Because it was the first time he could properly think in weeks. It was almost nice. 

But the tune changed once a horrific thought dawned on him: _this wasn't going to last_. 

By morning, whatever consciousness he was experiencing would fade away, and he'd be back to the overwhelming nothingness he'd grown used to. 

… 

Thinking was bad, he decided, too little too late. His body was already reacting. 

He tried to stay composed for Hiro's sake, but between the lump in his throat that made breathing hard as shit and the sting of tears threatening to escape his eyes, it was a lost cause. 

~~He was a lost cause.~~

"Leon?" Hagakure, blissfully unaware of the predicament, wondered, after noticing he'd been quiet. 

Glancing over, Hagakure's voice contorted into concern as he realized what was going on. "Shit, are you okay?" 

Biting his lip, he hurriedly pulled the car to the side of the road, coming to a stop so he could put his full attention on Leon. "You're shaking."

Leon blinked once to ground himself, staring at his hand. 

_Heh_. Hagakure was right. It was shaking like crazy. He hadn't even realized it, with everything else going on. 

He was spiraling. God damn it all. 

"I think…" Leon battled the part of him that didn't want to speak. "I think there's something wrong with me." 

And the second he stopped talking, he was at the mercy of the tears that began pouring out of his eyes like never before. They stung. All of them. 

There was a moment where Hagakure just watched, unsure of what to do. 

But then, he gestured towards Leon with open arms, a soft hesitancy in his tone. "Could I…?" 

Leon nodded, and within seconds, he felt the warmth of Hagakure's arms wrap around him in a hug. Burrowing his face into his shoulder, Leon let himself sob, as Hagakure held him. 

He was probably staining Hiro's shirt with his tears, but Hagakure didn't seem to mind. 

He didn't even question it. He just kept holding Leon.

And that was exactly what the mess of a redhead needed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!
> 
> Hagakure and Leon deserve 💫 respect 💫


	3. At Least The Potoo Isn't Gay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hagakure drives Leon home. And Leon, of course, stays up thinking about Hagakure. *ahem* the day. Not Hagakure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is kind of short, and for that I apologize, but I'm gonna be honest, it made me happy to write 
> 
> welcome back to loving Leon (& hagakure) hours :)
> 
> I have no justification for making this the title, I just thought it was funny

The funniest part of crying your eyes out on someone's shoulder is the aftermath. 

Leon Kuwata could attest to that, as he was sitting there, red-eyed and exhausted. He had sobbed so hard nothing was left--- not that he had much feeling when he started. 

He didn't even have the energy to be embarrassed, 'cause there it was! Every ounce of his remaining soul, woven into the fabric of Hagakure's T-shirt sleeve in the form of discarded tears. How  _ lovely _ . 

"Fuck," Leon finally brought attention to the whole charade, despite the strain in his voice. He needed water, but he sure as hell wasn't about to drink the rest of Hagakure's. 

… the thought  _ did _ cross his mind, though. 

Sensing his cue, Hagakure pulled away from Leon, and just stared. Probably sitting there, thinkin':  _ hell yeah there's something wrong with you, ya crazy fuck! _

Hagakure's movements were so unsure that Leon doubted he knew what to do with himself. Leon didn't blame him. 

They didn't break eye contact in the moments that followed. Didn't  _ want _ to, perhaps. Just stared at each other until the building silence became too unbearable. 

"I guess that's over," Leon forcibly laughed, trying to lighten the mood, as to keep the pressure off of Hagakure.

The latter had never been very good at serious situations, causing Leon, despite himself, to take on the burden. 

Leon was far from a genius. In fact, he was the type to skip classes to make out with girls he didn't actually like, and sleep through the rest. But even  _ he _ knew that he had fucked up the night for both of them with his pathetic outburst. 

So, no matter how many times Hagakure looked over at Leon with troubled, worried eyes, Leon kept looking out the window in silence, until they finally pulled into his driveway. It was better that way. ~~For Hagakure.~~ For the both of them. 

"Leon, wait…" Hagakure pleaded as Leon shoved the car door open. There was something in his eyes that Leon couldn't place. 

And… 

He didn't wait. _He_ _should_ _have_ , but he didn't. He just slammed the door and kept on walking, leaving whatever knowledge Hiro wanted to bestow a mere thought, to be discarded in the uncaring wind for eternity. 

* * *

It took Leon three lousy tries to put his key in the lock correctly, 'cause he couldn't stop his damn hands from shaking. 

He didn't know  _ why _ it took so long. Maybe he was losing his fine motor skills, too, to add on to the list of reasons why he was a sorry excuse for a person. Just some icing on the disaster cake. 

… 

Okay, he didn't mean that.  _ Not really, _ he reminded himself with a deep breath. That was taking it too far. He was a little fucked up in the head, especially now. But that didn't make him a  _ total _ waste of space yet.  _ (Right?) _

He chose to ignore that thought. 

The inside of his house was dark when he walked in, aside from a dim lamp that was left on in the corner, shining on Masaru, who was crumpled up on the loveseat. 

"Psst," Leon gently shook his shoulders, hoping he'd stir awake. "Hey kid, get to bed." 

This wasn't an unusual occurrence; Masaru tended to fall asleep on the couch when Leon was out late. 

Thank goodness Masaru was a light sleeper, 'cause that's all it took for him to groggily rub his eyes, and sit up. "Leon…" 

He then blinked, as if remembering something. "Leon!"

"Shhh," Leon mumbled, but couldn't help smiling at Masaru's instant excitement upon seeing him. "You're gonna wake dad up. Now, come on. I'm not gonna carry you." 

"Sorry!" Masaru whisper-shouted to the best of his ability as he followed Leon up the stairs. It was an improvement, at least. 

"We played soccer in P.E. today, and Kotoko finally said I could be the P.E. King 'cause I scored  _ all _ of the goals!" Masaru began sleepily rambling the second they reached his room. "Well, Jataro kind of scored one too, but Monaca said it didn't count…" 

"See? I told you you could do it." Leon reassured, patting Masaru on the head, before making his way back to the door. Even in his half-asleep state, Masaru was a bundle of energy, which was a complete juxtaposition to Leon's exhausted demeanor, making him realize how tired he really was. "Night, Masaru."

But when Leon finally made it to his own bed, the sweet release of sleep paid him no visit, thanks to the events of the day that plagued his mind. 

Oddly enough, breaking up with Sayaka, who was  _ objectively _ hot as balls, he could rationalize. But not being able to pinpoint why things felt so different when he was around Hagakure?  **_Kissing_ ** _ him, for heaven's sake? _ Not being able to shake the feeling of Hiro's stubble scraping against his face? The way Hagakure comforted him while he was losing his mind, and didn't bat an eye? The fact that, even now, despite not giving a single fuck about birds, Leon couldn't get the damn Potoo Hagakure was going on about off his mind? 

Even worse, the knots in his stomach kept reminding him of the way he slammed the car door on Hagakure’s face when listening to him was the least he could do. He didn't know why he left. He just did. 

… 

It took an unfortunate amount of time for Leon to realize that all he really was doing was staying up late thinking about Hagakure. There really was no coming back from that. 

So, when all of that tossing and turning he was doing yielded no results, he begrudgingly pulled out his cracked phone. 

Leon had too much dignity to take one of those lousy  _ Am I Gay? _ quizzes, so he did something far more telling, and entered a singular word into the Google search bar:

**_Potoo_ ** . 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im gonna be honest, anyone reading this has my blessings. 
> 
> drink some water & don't forget to take your meds!
> 
> and, once again, comments are appreciated! 
> 
> (and, for clarification, I have it in mind that Leon and masaru are step-brothers for this fic)


	4. The Mythology of Socks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leon wakes up late for school, and reflects on the mess of the day prior.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> May the tragic story of Leon Kuwata continue

Congratulations, onlooker. You caught him. 

Leon Kuwata is in love with Hagakure. 

Wave the white flags, sound the alarms, and break out the applause. 

_ Except… _ that was only a partial truth. 

Leon was, in fact,  _ NOT  _ in love with Hagakure. But he sure was acting like it. 

He knew it from the moment he woke up, half past 7, with his overheating phone, which remained open on the Wikipedia for the atrocious Potoo, and a missed phone call from Hagakure, who was still living in the hippie-ass dark ages, 'cause who the fuck doesn't just text to say that you're there? 

Rubbing his eyes, he sat up, very eloquently thinking:  _ shit _ . 'Cause he was already half an hour late to school, which meant he'd have to walk, which was super fuckin' cool, and definitely his fault. And he couldn't just skip school, 'cause Masaru was still home, and he'd tell his mom, who'd tell their dad, who'd give Leon a lecture he really didn't want to fuckin' hear, 'cause he knew he was already a big fuckin' dissapointment for quitting baseball, he didn't need to add skipping school to the list, especially  _ after _ he'd decided to stop skipping biology. 

He thought about throwing his phone across his room for good measure, 'cause the less than 20% battery notification that popped up only seemed to mock him further, but decided against it since there really wasn't a point in doing so. It was already cracked. Any more damage he could inflict on it would only make his piss-hole of a life worse. 

And that would've been all fine and dandy, if he hadn't looked down, bringing his attention to a whole separate calamity: he had a fuckin' erection. The fact in itself was nothing. He'd be a fuckin millionaire if he had a dollar for every time he woke up with one. Or something. He wasn't too sure of the math. 

The issue came when he realized that he woke up with a boner after spending the night thinking about Hagakure, and he couldn't quite convince himself that it was completely out of the realm of possibility that those two things were correlated. 

Normally, he'd at  _ least _ consider jerking off to get rid of it, even on days he was runnin' late 'cause it beats being uncomfortable all day, but he'd just have to hope it'd go away today, 'cause there was no way in hell he was going to jerk off knowing Yasuhuro fuckin' Hagakure was on his mind. 

Once again, he decided that thinking was bad, and that whoever invented it could suck his dick. Checking his phone again, he groaned. There was no way he'd make it to 1st or even 2nd period at this rate. 

Throwing on some--- most definitely unwashed--- clothes from off of his floor, he made his way to the bathroom to brush his teeth. The toothpaste he used tasted like chalk, but at least he didn't use Masaru's watermelon flavored toothpaste that probably tasted like sugary dogshit. 

Leon was pretty sure Hagakure used the same one. 

He used this time to look in the mirror. To really look at himself. He didn't set out to it, but the second he saw how prominent the bags under his eyes were he couldn't help but wonder what the fuck happened to him.

And sure enough, there were faint signs of bruising on his lips, as he'd feared. 

He couldn't remember the last time he smiled. It couldn't have been that long ago, he thought, but the fact that he couldn't remember was concerning enough. Or maybe it just meant he was tired. 

Had he always been like this? So devoid? Or had one of the gods Hagakure likes to ramble on about finally gain the balls to prove their existence by cursing him? 

If so, he'd have appreciated it if they would've left out all of these fuckin' gay thoughts while they were at it, 'cause he'd always figured that that was some bullshit he'd never have to deal with in his lifetime. 

With that silent plea, he spit out the mixture of saliva and chalk into his sink, grabbed his backpack, and walked out the door, preparing himself to take the excruciating walk to school. 

Except, when he got outside, he nearly tripped over his own two feet, 'cause right there in his driveway sat Hagakure's piece of shit car. 

So, Leon did what any sane person would do, and bolted to the car, nearly ripping the passenger door off of his hinges when he opened it, just to say something dumb like, "You're still here." 

It wasn't until Hagakure replied that Leon noticed that there was something different about Hagakure. Something he couldn't quite place. 

Maybe it was in his eyes. The guy was always talking about how eyes were the window to the soul, and half-baked crap like that. 

"Well, yeah…" Hagakure shrugged, picking apart his already destroyed Spiderman steering wheel cover. Thing was, he had another perfectly good steering wheel cover in his garage. But, for whatever reason, he didn't replace it. "I figured you'd still need a ride."

Oh well, Leon figured. A new anything probably would've looked out of place, when everything else about the car was in shambles. 

"But now you're late," Leon said pointedly, settling into the car as best as he could, before shutting the door, gently this time. 

Hagakure didn't say anything in response, just started backing out of the driveway, and Kuwata couldn't quite tell what it meant. 

"You really didn't have socks on yesterday?" Leon murmurs, for the sole reason that he felt like he had to say something. 

"Nope." Hagakure confirmed, not that he wore socks on the regular anyway. He had about four pairs to his name, and Leon bet anything that at least two of them were weed socks. 

"Huh," Leon nodded, as if he had asked an actual question with merit. 

"I did, though." He added, as an afterthought. 

They had holes in them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it always feels good coming back to this. 
> 
> hope you enjoyed!   
> if you're feeling up to it, feel free to leave a comment!


	5. 70% My Ass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leon gets to school, and runs into someone that wants to make his life just a little bit harder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leon can't catch a break, can he?

"You park like shit," Leon mused as he got out of the car. 

"No fair!" Hagakure defended himself, as he, too, got out of the crookedly parked car. "It's at  _ least _ 70% accurate."

"30% at  _ best _ ," Leon rolled his eyes with ease. It was total ass. "I can't even see the line on this side." 

"C'mon, what's that thing Buddha said?" Hiro persisted, rubbing his hands together, as if he were summoning wisdom. 

"Life is suffering?" Leon drearily suggested. 

Hagakure's posture began to deflate as he scratched his head. "I was thinking something more along the lines of 'It doesn't matter if you suck ass at parking as long as you don't die along the way.'" 

"Yeah, uh… something tells me he didn't say that," Leon facetiously flicked Hagakure's shoulder, and began walking towards the school. Hagakure was the biggest dummy he knew. 

"H-he could've," Yasuhiro stammered, his face reddening with diffidence. 

Precisely 12 seconds later, when Leon was nearly 15 feet away, the realization finally hit that Leon had already started walking.

"Hey!" Hagakure called out. "Wait up-"

So naturally Leon, as any respectable human would do, stopped in his tracks and turned towards Hagakure to wait for him. 

And that's when he saw it. That  _ something _ from earlier. 

Watching Hagakure clumsily run towards him, with his sandals nearly flying off of his feet, with a smile that spread across his face as he saw Leon waiting for him. 

He still didn't know what it was, but…

Leon knew he was seeing it. And, for whatever reason, it felt important. 

But, like, fuck it all! He didn't know what the hell he was supposed to do with that information, so he mumbled something mildly stupid like, "Let's get inside before Kirigiri has our asses" just to get it out of his mind. 

Didn't work, though. 

"D'ya think he'd buy it if I said we were having car troubles?" Hiro spitballed, as they reached the school's entrance. 

"..." Leon deadpanned. "I think he'd have to be stupid  _ not _ to believe your car was having trouble." 

* * *

They made it inside 10 minutes into 2nd period, when the slackers were still roaming the halls. 

Hagakure had to split, since his class was in the other hallway, so Leon was left to his own devices as he moseyed his way to his locker, which would've been completely fine if he didn't have the complete misfortune of running into Junko Enoshima, who was standing right next to his locker. 

"What do you want?" He sighed, as he opened his locker. The only reason he had ever tolerated her before is because she was friends with Sayaka, and now that-

_ Shit. _

He had spent all morning freaking out about  Hagakure oversleeping that he failed to take into consideration that going to school meant he'd have to face Sayaka after their shitty breakup. 

"Aw, Leon? Are you really going to act like that when talking to your bestest friend in the whole wide world?" Junko shook her head, approaching him. 

Leon was pretty sure she hadn't said a word of substance yet.

"I'm impressed. Walking around school the day after breaking up with the girl of your dreams like it's nothing…" she continued, with a pompous smile, pointing towards his bruised lips. "You didn't even try to cover up the proof!" 

"That either makes you strong, or a heartless bastard!" She finished, with the tilt of her head, as she threw up a signature peace sign. 

The more she talked, the less he wanted to listen. 

"Is that all?" Leon asked as he shuffled through the wads of paper he had shoved in his locker, trying to find his English homework he'd left in there. It wasn't finished, but half credit was better than nothing. 

"Quite frankly, I don't care which it is. Lord knows I don't know why, but Sayaka actually likes you," Junko's tone turned serious. "And she's my friend, so I suggest you come up with a good excuse for dumping her, and apologize your ass off, m'kay?" 

Leon blinked. "Are you… trying to threaten me into getting back with her?" 

On paper, it didn't seem out of character for her, but Leon was pretty sure you're supposed to actually have a threat when threatening someone. And Junko wasn't exactly an amateur, so something was off. 

Junko shrugged, almost pleased with his response. "Can't say I didn't try. Guess that means I'll just have to revert to Plan B." 

"Plan B?" He didn't know if it was just the way she said it, or the fact that she was a top tier bitch, but Leon had a bad feeling about whatever the hell she was getting at. 

"Painting you as the asshole Sayaka so desperately wishes you weren't, obviously. That way she'll realize she doesn't need you." 

"And how are you going to do that?" Leon instantly wished he didn't ask. She looked like some kind of a cartoon villain with the way she was sneering. 

Then again, maybe he'd just been watching too many cartoons with Masaru. 

But her next words sent a shock of fear down his spine:

"By telling her you've already kissed someone else." 

His body went cold. Frozen, even. 

_ She knew.  _

_ How did she fucking know. That was impossible, right? _

_ How did she- _

"Of course, Sayaka is basically a walking lie detector, so I'll have to make it believable…" Junko stepped forward, and by the time Leon processed the fact that Junko hadn't been talking about the fact that he had kissed Yasuhiro fucking Hagakure the night before, Junko's lips crashed into his, knocking his head back into his locker. If kissing Sayaka was boring, kissing Junko was painful, 'cause his lips were sore as fuck and she did it with such force that it felt like he was slamming his face into a pile of poison ivy. 

"What the fuck?" Leon scowled the second he realized what the hell was happening. 

"Relax. It's not like I wanted to kiss you." Rolling her eyes, Junko wiped her mouth with her sleeve. "I'm just doing my part in making the world a better place. Consider it a parting gift." 

Normally, he'd shout something cool, like, 

_ "Like hell I'd go along with this!" _

But honestly, he didn't know what he'd be fighting for. 

_ Sayaka? His pride? The truth?  _

None of those things seemed worth it. So, he just slid against the lockers, and watched Junko walk away, with the plan to ruin a part of his life he didn't even feel like he was living anymore. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and the world keeps turning. 
> 
> thank you all for the feedback I have gotten so far, I read every comment, and they make me so happy!

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!  
> comments and feedback are very much appreciated! stay hydrated <3


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